Many Lyonnais, known and anonymous, arrived early Wednesday at Saint-Jean Cathedral to attend the funeral of their mayor Gérard Collomb, during which Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to his Prime Minister of the Interior. “
More than 1,000 seats have been reserved for Lyonnais
In the regular flow waiting to enter the primatial, Roger Vacheret, 74, explained that he wanted to “greet” a man who brought “a lot to the city of Lyon and to politics”. “That doesn’t mean that I share everything he did at the end,” specifies the Renaissance activist. He was “a man who had a very big heart, he loved his city and he loved the people”, describe Anita Astrenta, 62, CFDT trade unionist at the town hall and Jean-Paul Caillard, 75, project manager. The couple, married by Gérard Collomb, had known him for many years.
In accordance with the wishes expressed during his lifetime, more than 1,000 seats were reserved for Lyonnais out of the 1,400 seats in the cathedral. A giant screen also broadcast the ceremony live on the square. Inside, a portrait of the deceased and a bouquet were placed near the altar.
Decisive support for Emmanuel Macron
The celebration, chaired by the Archbishop of Lyon Mgr Olivier de Germay, was held from 11 a.m. in the presence of Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and many personalities. The former boss of Olympique Lyonnais Jean-Michel Aulas, the former Miss France Sylvie Tellier or the comedian Laurent Gerra, the basketball player Tony Parker the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region Laurent Wauquiez (LR) and several ministers including Bruno Le Maire, arrived among the first.
The head of state, to whom the Lyon baron had provided decisive support during the 2017 presidential election, spoke during the ceremony, as did his former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and academician Marc Lambron. “Security was a blind spot on the left, you faced it without fear or modesty. Control of immigration, a taboo? You approached the subject with the courage of those who are right too soon,” declared the leader in particular of the State during his funeral oration.
“Far from theoretical postures, you have never lost sight, in these functions, of the compass of reality: protecting the French from terrorism, insecurity, illegal immigration. Saying what you see too. You who have shown great lucidity about the fractures that cross our nation,” he added. And to send his thanks to the one who was one of his first supporters in his quest for the Élysée. “You have finally, dear Gérard, changed my life. Not for a single moment do I forget that without your strength of soul, your sense of friendship, without having crossed your path, I would not be where I am,” he concluded.
Gérard Collomb “left his indelible mark” on the city of Lyon
Suffering from stomach cancer, Gérard Collomb died Saturday evening at the age of 76. He will be buried in the Loyasse cemetery, near his predecessor at the Town Hall Edouard Herriot. Born on June 20, 1947 in Chalon-sur-Saône (Saône-et-Loire) to a father who was a metalworker and a mother who was a housekeeper, this socialist activist who joined En Marche from the start remained one of the emblematic political figures of the capital of Gaul, of which he was mayor from 2001 to 2017 then from 2018 to 2020.
Gérard Collomb “left his indelible mark on our city, working for twenty years for its development”, declared the environmentalist mayor Grégory Doucet at the start of the week. On Wednesday, he entered the cathedral without comment.
Monday and Tuesday, the Lyonnais had already been able to pay their respects in front of the coffin of the former councilor, exhibited at the Town Hall, where the flags had been lowered to half-mast. These grateful Lyonnais paraded without flowers, as the family had requested, before recording their memories of this “builder” and “visionary” mayor in a register of condolences.
Elected at the head of Lyon in 2001 with the support of Raymond Barre after two unsuccessful attempts, he left his post in 2017 to become Minister of the Interior in the government of Edouard Philippe.
Weakened politically by the Benalla affair, “difficult to live with” according to him, he resigned with a bang in October 2018 to resume his functions in Lyon which he had handed over to two of his lieutenants. Deprived of the investiture of the Republic in March, he failed to reconquer the metropolis in 2020, beaten by the Greens. He had disappeared from the local political scene since he himself announced his cancer on social networks on September 16, 2022.